Dear community,

Summer is here. For many of us, that brings schedule changes, childcare shifts, and hopefully a bit more space to find respite and spend time with our loved ones. We hope you’re finding moments of rest wherever you can, especially as we all continue to navigate global instability and uncertainty.

As we slow down, we’re also mindful that this work doesn’t pause. Supporting maternal well-being, joy, and dignity requires action on multiple fronts, from clinical care to culturally-rooted research, from policy change to community organizing. As funders, it’s important to recognize and resource the work and its many intersections, including c3 and c4 strategies.

Before we take a break from our monthly learning series this summer, we’re featuring two organizations doing exactly that kind of work, Mothering Justice and Vote Mama. We hope you’ll join us for the conversation at our monthly learning series on June 18 at 2p ET.

Thank you for being in community with us. Please be sure to share this newsletter with your colleagues and be on the lookout for upcoming opportunities to engage with the FBJE network.

With gratitude,
Nakeenya Wilson + Kyndall Osibodu
Co-Directors, Funders for Birth Justice and Equity

 

What’s Happening at FBJE

Join Our Team

FBJE seeks a Birth Justice Ecosystem Fellow to support a research project focused on current conditions across birth justice and intersecting movements.

This fellowship will help FBJE build on existing field knowledge and prior landscape analyses to better understand what is happening, including emerging pressures, field infrastructure needs, and opportunities for more coordinated philanthropic support.

The fellow will support research, data organization, synthesis, and storytelling that will inform FBJE’s 2026 convening and future work. Learn more here. 

 

Summit Registration is Now Open

OCTOBER 20-22 | DETROIT, MI

Detroit has long been a hub for Black-led health innovation, organizing, and institution-building. This fall, we’re gathering there to align capital with the birth justice infrastructure communities are already building. Join us at the 2026 Birth Equity Summit, October 20-22. Register here. 

Join the Funder Partner Program

Most funder networks are built for and by funders. This one is built with and to center community. FBJE membership is co-governed by both philanthropic leaders and field voices, because the decisions that shape our work should reflect the communities we serve. This is what accountable philanthropy looks like. Join the network here. 

 

How C3 and C4 Strategies Advance Birth Justice

THURSDAY, JUNE 18 | 2 PM ET / 11 AM PT | ZOOM

Advancing maternal health requires dignified care, culturally relevant research, and building political power and public will to invest in caregivers and families. Join us for this month’s learning series with two organizations at the forefront of that work. Mothering Justice,which organizes and mobilizes mothers of color to advocate for policies that protect Black maternal health and family economic security, and Vote Mama, which breaks down the barriers moms face in running for office. Together, they model how c3 and c4 strategies work hand in hand to bridge parent and caregiver leadership with lasting policy change—and why funders invested in birth equity need to understand and support both. Register here. 

May Monthly Learning Series Recap

Thank you for joining the May Monthly Learning Series featuring A Better Balance, an organization advancing birth equity through workplace justice. ABB shared updates on landmark wins like the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act and recent paid family and medical leave victories across 15 states, including Virginia. The conversation explored ABB’s multi-pronged strategy spanning advocacy, litigation, legal services, and policy implementation, with a spotlight on their work in the south and its network of 60+ partner organizations. Funders had the opportunity to hear about the deep connections between workplace justice, reproductive rights, and labor organizing.

At the Intersections: What’s Happening in the Field

 

• Every Mother Counts has published When Systems Falter, Invest in What Holds: Community-Based Organizations as Critical Maternal Health Infrastructure. Grounded in the experiences and insights of EMC grantee partners, this analysis examines the maternal health implications of H.R. 1 (the One Big Beautiful Bill Act) and explores how shifts in federal policy may affect access to care, the maternal health workforce, community-based organizations, and the broader systems that support pregnant and postpartum people.

• As we head to Detroit this fall, this Hour Detroit piece is essential reading. Detroit has the highest preterm birth rate among the 100 U.S. cities with the most births. But a powerful group of women is fighting back through community birth centers, direct cash support, and Medicaid-covered doula care.

• A new research letter in JAMA Pediatrics argues that fathers’ deaths during a child’s early years deserve more attention. A pilot study in Georgia found over 60% of paternal deaths were from preventable causes, yet fatherhood itself appears protective, with fathers dying at lower rates than men overall. A thought-provoking look at how we define perinatal risk.

 

Do you have research, an initiative, or a funding opportunity you’d like us to uplift? We invite you to share updates and opportunities for collective learning here.